Friday, October 27, 2006

An official launch of the Motorola MARTS 2m National link will be staged on the 31st October 2006 at 2.30pm in the Cititel Hotel, Penang to mark yet another milestone for the National Amateur Radio Society.Presently, the 2m National link is opertaing without any glitches, as the repeater team made their way from North to South. Motorola is the official sponsor of this link and has provided both Hardware and consultation including other materials for the setting up of this link.For more details visit www.marts.org.myFor those intending to drop in for this event, you are encouraged to do so, please sms 0146040573 to book your place (The moderator of this blog is not sure of the closing date as no dates were provided in the general invitation)

Yup! They did, all six candidates who participated in the RAE Special Sitting for the Angkasawan Candidates and Angkasa Officials got through their RAE without any hitches. Seeing that RAE was not actually rocket science (Pun intended!), we wish godspeed to all involved in seeing this Angkasa Initiated project through.At the present moment, both Angkasawan Elect, Dr Sheikh & Dr Faiz are already in Moscow, probably getting used to potatoes & vodka! OK, not the vodka part...but definately getting used to Mockba diet! Hopefully we will also get their callsign soon, so boleh panggil panggil mah . . .

So, if you hear of a new callsign, most likely, it could be either of the four! Cheers...

Martsnews.blogspot would like to thank Mr.Sangat Singh who shared this photo with us.

Monday, October 16, 2006

CQ CQ CQ, the call for volunteers is out again! This time, the World JOTA, will commence on 21 October 2006 0001 LT. In view of the up coming DeepaRaya, there will be a need to coordinatevolunteers more closely to at least have some 'voice' from Klang Valley.Before we announce the setting up of station for Klang Valley, and invite the troops of KL/Sel,we first need to identify if we have sufficient stations.(The Persatuan Pengakap Malaysia - will be loaning their equipment for this use if manpower suffices)1. In view of Deepavali on 21st October 2006, there may be some people who will take a long trip from KL. (Please place your callsign and time available if you intend to help)2. The station will be on air throughout the weekend and will stop transmission 2359LT 22 October 2006.This call will close on 18 October 2006 at 1200 hrs.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

QSP from 9W2PCK - Choy from Segamat. He has noted that the National Link from Gg.Ledang to Ulu Kali is not carrying his audio, as opposed to previous transmissions achieving a Readability 4 ! However, he is able to copy the transmissions of stations in Central to Northern.

So take note, if you are trying to access from down south, you may experience difficulties.The problem has also been reported by Choy to 9W2EY - Edward.

It was decided to explore the possibility of duty exemption on Amateur equipment. During that period we had a good example of Amateur Radio Society of India having just obtained duty exemption vide Gazette of India Notification dated 9th March, 1984. This was the background that gave us the incentive. I was charged with the duty to set the ball rolling.

The first letter dated 9th March, 1984 was written by the President, Colin Richards, 9M2CR and addressed to the Hon. Minister of Finance, Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah. This letter was neither acknowledged nor replied. We sent a reminder on 9th May, 1984 even that was ignored. From then on, I took upon myself to pursue this matter vigorously.

On 1st October, 1984 I sent another letter to the Finance Minister, enclosing all previous correspondence for ease of reference. This time we received an acknowledgement on 5th November, 1984 that the matter would receive attention.

On 30th November, 1984 we received a letter from Customs Headquarter granting an interview, and asked me to present them with the Customs Tariff Codes for items that we wished duty to be waived. I met Director Ramlah Binti Ibrahim and spent the whole morning explaining what we needed. I submitted a few pages of Schedule of Amateur Radio equipments to be admitted duty-free to holders of valid amateur radio licence holders. Unfortunately this surfeit of information was beyond her. She kept on asking for the Customs Tariff Code, even to the extent of asking the name of Manufacturer, Model, and serial number. I did not make much headway as it was not just one piece that we needed to import. On a subsequent visit I asked D. D. Devan, 9M2DD to accompany me in case he was able to drill some sense. We were required to file in a fresh memorandum and included whatever further information was needed.

On 22nd February, 1985 I enlisted the help of Enc. Zakari Che Noo, Director of JTM, to provide a recommendation. This was not acknowledged nor replied. On 12th March. 1985 I got Enc. Zakaria Che Noor to send a reminder to Puan Ramlah. Again there was no response.

On 12th June, 1985 I sent another letter once again enclosing copies of all old correspondence in case they could not trace the file.

On 9th July, 1985 we received a reply by one Enc. Mohd. Amen Bin Cutoff that gave a glimmer of hope, and again asked for the Tariff Codes. This I provided .

On 1st August, 1985 we received Tariff Code and duty thereon. I was shocked as that quoted just the normal duty ranging from 30 – 50 percent + 10 percent on most items.

Only on ICOM IC 751, 745, 730 she quoted inadvertently a duty of 5% + 10%. This was actually a slip.

On 8th August, 1985 I wrote a letter to D. D. Devan, 9M2DD who was then the President of MARTS, quote.

“I am enclosing the missive from Customs. You can see what a mess they have made. I tried to speak to Ramlah but she refused to talk. Clearly this work was beyond her capacity…..”

On 13th January, 1986 we received a letter from Customs that “…dukacita dimaklumkan bahawa permohonan tersebut tidak dapat diluluskan” Thus the first attempt failed.

We did not give up and started the second assault. This was the second attempt. This time I enlisted the help of Y. B Datuk Amar Stephen Yong, Minister of Sains Dan Alma Skitter as I knew him personally and he had visited us when I was the Manager of Ampar Tenang Estate, Dengkil. I got a recommendation letter from him. Added to this I had fresh recommendations from the Director of JTM. Once again we started on the merry go round. Light at the end of tunnel was still not visible.

At this point I enlisted the help of H. L. Cham, 9M2YB. This was on 20th June, 1989. By this time Lee Fook Seng, 9M2LF had become the President of MARTS. According to Cham our application could not be found at the Ministry of Finance. Following his contacts he felt that we stood a good chance. So I started once again to present our case. To quote Cham “The informal reactions I have got to date appear to be encouraging and I will be more than happy to follow through once you have prepared the proposed new letter”. This was our second attempt. I resubmitted our application to the Ministry of Finance.

But this time, something sinister was being hatched. The very people who now claim credit were the ones who were responsible for the failure of the second attempt. It will be opening a can of worms if I were to write about that painful episode. Suffice to say that in 1990 I had relinquished my post as a Secretary of MARTS. Zainal, 9M2ZA became the secretary. I gave him a few pages of handing over report and in it I had specifically mentioned among other things that our application for Duty exemption was in the final stage and required an urgent follow up. No action was taken at all. Thus failed the second attempt.

That was the most chaotic period in the history of MARTS. Zainal, 9M2ZA lasted less then 3 months as the Secretary. Then Yusoff, 9M2FF was roped in but due to his personal problems he too did not last. At last Thiam 9M2CJ was pressed in and again some years later he too was unconstitutionally asked to resign. In a shameful manner, while MARTS talked pontifically about the constitution as being sacred, had a council member who was not even a member of MARTS.

We now come to the 3rd round.

This was I think during the 1996 MARTS AGM at UKM Bangi that the question of duty exemption once again raised its head. It was I think, Ken, 9M2KN who proposed my name and the whole membership raised their hands and vociferously seconded my name. I was tired from previous two attempts and had regressed peacefully as an ordinary member. I was most reluctant to undertake once again the cudgels to combat the authorities. But they wouldn’t listen. I took up the challenge once again. At that time Rashid, 9M2RS became the President and Thaim, 9M2CJ was the Hon. Secretary. I was appointed the Chairman and asked to nominate my own committee. My reply was that the committee should consist of only 2 members of which one should be absent. But I don’t think the staid amanuensis minuted that witticism. At the end it was decided that I would be a one man committee to tackle this question.

Once again, I started that lone and arduous journey and enlisted help of people who mattered. I have their letters of support on my file and am grateful for their generous help. In the meantime, I had made a good contact with the Director of Customs who was sympathetic. I don’t want to list the umpteen letters and meetings I had with them. Then came the day we were waiting for. On 24th October, 1996 I saw the Director concerned and he gave me a privileged packet with a red slip posted on it that read:

Rest is the history. I never talked or told anybody, nor made any claims. There was not a single cent claimed for anything from MARTS. I just felt pleased that the job was done. My last duty was to write letters of thanks and to the press to thank YB Minister of Finance. These letters did appear in the press.

It was only after this announcement, I felt that the Director of Customs must be thanked. The two appropriate persons were the President Rashid, 9M2RS and Thiam 9M2CJ to thank him for his help. This was the only occasion they ever went to the Customs Headquarters. I am sure they cannot even remember the name of that friendly Director.

This was the sum total of their help. I am not sure who were the others who helped. They should be identified and suitably honoured with a place in the Hall of Fame.

In the following AGM there was just one liner minuted to say thank you Sangat.

Sangat Singh, 9M2SS

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --The above was sent to us via email, and we felt that this should be published in view of therecent comments that resulted in the deletion of the Angkasawan posting.Martsnews.blogspot wishes to inform that the originality of this posted email was verifiedvia telephone, and would like to thank 9M2SS for his time. We also note that Mr Sangat's intention is not to seek acknowledgement nor fame, but merely wishes to inform that previous postings may have been made with other intentions.

This site is established by a group of ham members who wish to see the interests of amateur radio in Malaysia protected.

We look to address affairs of the premier amateur radio organization in Malaysia, MARTS. We intent to drive change in the organization so a non-dysfunctional, forward thinking and fair environment can be created. To this end, we feel that it is imperative to leverage member opinion. It is our intention to assemble a group of concerned ham members who will drive this change and ensure that we have a group of representatives who truly have the members interests at heart.

Besides the core values of the ham society at large, we also intend to create a free and accepting environment for fellow hams to assemble without fear or favour. All are welcome. Those who chose to lead may do so.

We will empower our decisions based on merit. If you can do something well, just do it. In a nutshell, this is a watchdog forum of concerned members to safeguard the future liberties of all ham members.

We appeal to all concerned ham members of MARTS to take a stand on the issues presented in this webpage and exert all due pressure in your sphere of influence. Let it not be said that you did not seek adequate representation at this critical time.

On a less serious note, we are also a group of hams who like to group and explore common interests , whatever it may be. So, if you have an interest that you think hams would like to explore, this is probably the place to do it.